Quote:
Originally Posted by Vena
Nor did I find Kyouhei indecisive, unless I read far too much into the fireworks scene and "I'll be your mobile blood bank forever and ever." It felt to me like it was pretty clear cut (though not in your face "I love you" confession style) that he cared for the main moreso than any other, and that that was the conclusion to the rather unceremonious romance angle of the show.
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But see, that's the thing - he never went out and actually
said (or took any action that could be unmistakeably attributed as such) that he indeed loves her. As you say, that is a speculation we draw from reading in to the scene, and in all likelihood I agree with your interpretation of it. What I don't agree with is that this makes makes Kyouhei "decisive" on romance matters, or that he has ever taken it in his hands to move the romance subplot further. There were never any
actual steps taken by him to take the situation outside of realm of speculation and tease and make it a part of the show proper.
It's still very much beating around the bush (if he was indeed in love with her ... we speculate that he was, but we can't
know for sure. That alone speaks volumes about how conclusive the deal was
). Since this spawned from Mashifoni thread, that would be comparable to
Then we could all speculate on the likely meaning behind his words and the probable implication, but the possibility of there being dual meaning behind them would still be there. Which is the very opposite of "conclusive", unless the show itself takes steps down the road to clarify his meaning. Which is the exact situation we have in Fortune Arterial, but the show never took any additional steps to clarify, so we are left with this highly-probable-but-not-100%-certain implication. Implication - the very word that describes the depth of FA's "romance".
Some things were implied, we drew conclusions from said implications, but the show never offered confirmation one way or another. Kyouhei never offered confirmation one way or another. It's all elaborate guesswork, and no matter how much we think our guesses are the right ones, there is no actual way to confirm them. Something that is ultimately guesswork and interpretation can't possibly be conclusive, the two are pretty much mutually exclusive.
Hence the point why Fortune Arterial can't be considered a show that has a male lead who was the driving force of the romance front - since the state of this romance front is arguable in the first place. And even if we assume that our interpretations are correct, Kyouhei never said, did, or even thought about it in a straight-forward and unquestionable fashion that we would be aware of. He never made his intentions, assuming he indeed had intentions beyond what the show presented, clear. So ... yeah, the show pretty much left us hanging with implications and subtexts, but no concrete destination for all of it.
A point of many frustrations (among many others) for those of us who played the VN and had to watch the show going about its roundabout ways. Aaaargh, why did I have to be reminded of this show, now I am once again frustrated about them taking one of my favorite VNs and turning it in to this ...
thing ... during it's transformation to anime format!